Achilles Achilles by James Hunter Achilles was the son of the mortal Peleus and the Nereid Thetis . He was the mightiest of the Greeks who fought in the Trojan War, and was the hero of Homer's Iliad. Thetis attempted unsuccessfully to make her son immortal. There are two versions of the story. In the earlier version, Thetis anointed the infant with ambrosia and then placed him upon a fire to burn away his mortal portions; she was interrupted by Peleus, whereupon she abandoned both father and son in a rage. Peleus placed the child in the care of the Centaur Chiron , who raised and educated the boy. In the later version, she held the young Achilles by the heel and dipped him in the river Styx ; everything the sacred waters touched became invulnerable, but the heel remained dry and therefore unprotected. When Achilles was a boy, the seer Calchas prophesied that the city of Troy could not be taken without his help.

Thetis knew that, if her son went to Troy, he would die an early death, so she sent him to the court of Lycomedes , in Scyros; there he was hidden, disguised as a young girl. During his stay he had an affair with Lycomedes' daughter, Deidameia, and she had a son, Pyrrhus (or Neoptolemus ), by him. Achilles' disguise was finally penetrated by Odysseus , who placed arms and armor amidst a display of women's finery and seized upon Achilles when he was the only "maiden" to be fascinated by the swords and shields. Achilles then went willingly with Odysseus to Troy, leading a host of his father's Myrmidons and accompanied by his tutor Phoenix and his close friend Patroclus. At Troy, Achilles distinguished himself as an undefeatable warrior. Among his other exploits, he captured twenty-three towns in Trojan territory, including the town of Lyrnessos, where he took the woman Briseis as a war-prize.

Later on Agamemnon , the leader of the Greeks, was forced by an oracle of Apollo to give up his own war-prize, the woman Chryseis , and took Briseis away from Achilles as compensation for his loss. This action sparked the central plot of the Iliad, for Achilles became enraged and refused to fight for the Greeks any further. The war went badly, and the Greeks offered handsome reparations to their greatest warrior; Achilles still refused to fight in person, but he agreed to allow his friend Patroclus to fight in his place, wearing his armor. The next day Patroclus was killed and stripped of the armor by the Trojan hero Hector , who mistook him for Achilles. Achilles was overwhelmed with grief for his friend and rage at Hector. His mother obtained magnificent new armor for him from Hephaestus , and he returned to the fighting and killed Hector. He desecrated the body, dragging it behind his chariot before the walls of Troy, and refused to allow it to receive funeral rites.

When Priam , the king of Troy and Hector's father, came secretly into the Greek camp to plead for the body, Achilles finally relented; in one of the most moving scenes of the Iliad, he received Priam graciously and allowed him to take the body away. After the death of Hector, Achilles' days were numbered. He continued fighting heroically, killing many of the Trojans and their allies, including Memnon and the Amazon warrior Penthesilia. Finally Priam's son Paris (or Alexander), aided by Apollo, wounded Achilles in the heel with an arrow; Achilles died of the wound. After his death, it was decided to award Achilles' divinely-wrought armor to the bravest of the Greeks. Odysseus and Ajax competed for the prize, with each man making a speech explaining why he deserved the honor; Odysseus won, and Ajax then went mad and committed suicide. During his lifetime, Achilles is also said to have had a number of romantic episodes. He reportedly fell in love with Penthesilia, the Amazon maiden whom he killed in battle, and it is claimed that he married Medea .

Article details: Achilles - Ancient History - HISTORY.com Google Achilles: Early Life Like most mythological heroes, Achilles had a complicated family tree. His father was Peleus, the mortal king of the Myrmidons–a people who, according to legend, were extraordinarily fearless and skilled soldiers. His mother was Thetis, a Nereid. Did You Know? Today, we use the phrase “Achilles heel” to describe a powerful person’s fatal weakness. According to myths and stories composed long after the Iliad, Thetis was extraordinarily concerned about her baby son’s mortality. She did everything she could to make him immortal: She burned him over a fire every night, then dressed his wounds with ambrosial ointment; and she dunked him into the River Styx, whose waters were said to confer the invulnerability of the gods. However, she gripped him tightly by the foot as she dipped him into the river–so tightly that the water never touched his heel. As a result, Achilles was invulnerable everywhere but there. When he was 9 years old, a seer predicted that Achilles would die heroically in battle against the Trojans.

When she heard about this, Thetis disguised him as a girl and sent him to live on the Aegean island of Skyros. To be a great warrior was Achilles’ fate, however, and he soon left Skyros and joined the Greek army. In a last-ditch effort to save her son’s life, Thetis asked the divine blacksmith Hephaestus to make a sword and shield that would keep him safe. The armor that Hephaestus produced for Achilles did not make him immortal, but it was distinctive enough to be recognized by friend and foe alike. When Homer wrote the Iliad in about 720 BCE, however, readers and listeners would not have known any of this. They only knew that Achilles was a great hero, that he had superhuman strength and courage and that he was supremely handsome. Homer painted a more nuanced picture: In addition to these qualities, his Achilles was vengeful and quick to anger and could be petulant when he did not get his way. He was also deeply loyal and would sacrifice anything for his friends and family.

Achilles: The Trojan War According to legend, the Trojan War began when the god-king Zeus decided to reduce Earth’s mortal population by arranging a war between the Greeks (Homer calls them the Achaeans) and the Trojans. He did this by meddling in their political and emotional affairs. At Achilles’ parents’ wedding banquet, Zeus invited the prince of Troy, a young man named Paris, to judge a beauty contest between the goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. Each of the goddesses offered Paris a bribe in exchange for his vote. Aphrodite’s was the most alluring: She promised to give the young prince the most beautiful wife in the world. Unfortunately, the wife in question–Helen, the daughter of Zeus–was already married to someone else: Menelaus, the king of Sparta . At Aphrodite’s urging, Paris went to Sparta, won Helen’s heart and took her (along with all of Menelaus’ money) back to Troy. Menelaus vowed revenge. He assembled an army of Greece’s greatest warriors, including Achilles and his Myrmidons, and set off to conquer Troy and get his wife back.

In Homer’s telling, this war lasted for 10 bloody years. Achilles: The Illiad When the Iliad begins, the Trojan War has been going on for nine years. Achilles, the poem’s protagonist, has led one battle after another. He has met with great success–in fact, he is undefeated in battle–but the war itself has reached a stalemate. Homer’s story focuses on a different conflict, however: the internecine quarrel between his hero and Agamemnon, the leader of the Achaean armies and Menelaus’ brother. In a battle that took place before the poem begins, Agamemnon had taken as a concubine a young Trojan woman named Chryseis. Chryseis’ father, a priest of the god Apollo, tried to buy his daughter’s freedom, but Agamemnon mocked his entreaties and refused to release the girl. Enraged, Apollo punished the Greek armies by sending a plague to kill the soldiers one by one. As his ranks thinned, Agamemnon finally agreed to allow Chryseis to return to her father.

However, he demanded a replacement concubine in exchange: Achilles’ wife, the Trojan princess Breseis. Achilles did as his commander asked and relinquished his bride. Then, he announced that he would no longer fight on Agamemnon’s behalf. He gathered his belongings, including the armor Hephaestus had made, and refused to come out of his tent. With the Greeks’ greatest warrior off the battlefield, the tide began to turn in favor of the Trojans. The Greeks lost one battle after another. Eventually, Achilles’ best friend, the soldier Patroclus, was able to wrangle a compromise: Achilles would not fight, but he would let Patroclus use his powerful armor as a disguise. That way, the Trojans would think that Achilles had returned to battle and would retreat in fear. The plan was working until Apollo, still seething about Agamemnon’s treatment of Chryseis and her father, intervened on the Trojans’ behalf. He helped the Trojan prince Hector to find and kill Patroclus. Furious, Achilles vowed to take revenge. He chased Hector back to Troy, slaughtering Trojans all the way.

When they got to the city walls, Hector tried to reason with his pursuer, but Achilles was not interested. He stabbed Hector in the throat, killing him. Hector had begged for an honorable burial in Troy, but Achilles was determined to humiliate his enemy even in death. He dragged Hector’s body behind his chariot all the way back to the Achaean camp and tossed it on the garbage heap. However, in the poem’s last section Achilles finally relents: He returns Hector’s body to his father for a proper burial. Achilles: The Fate of Achilles In his Iliad, Homer does not explain what happened to Achilles. According to later legends (and bits and pieces of Homer’s own Odyssey), the warrior returned to Troy after Hector’s funeral to exact further revenge for Patroclus’ death. However, the still-vengeful Apollo told Hector’s brother Paris that Achilles was coming. Paris, who was not a brave warrior, ambushed Achilles as he entered Troy. He shot his unsuspecting enemy with an arrow, which Apollo guided to the one place he knew Achilles was vulnerable: his heel, where his mother’s hand had kept the waters of the Styx from touching his skin.

Achilles died on the spot, still undefeated in battle. Tags How Did Achilles Die? How Did Achilles Die? February 15, 2012 Everyone agrees that Paris killed Achilles with an arrow during the siege of Troy, but the details of his death are subject to debate. The familiar story that his mother Thetis dipped him in the River Styx but left a vulnerable spot in his heel is probably an invention of late antiquity, a variation of an earlier story that his mother tried to make him immortal by dipping him in boiling water or exposing him to flames. According to that legend, told in The Voyage of the Argo, her efforts were interrupted by her husband Peleus, and Achilles remained mortal. 1 Jonathon Burgess, in a 1995 article titled "Achilles' Heel: The Death of Achilles in Ancient Myth", uses evidence from ancient art and literature to argue that in earlier myth Achilles was probably killed outside the walls of Troy with two arrows. The first hit his foot or ankle, crippling him and taking away his legendary speed (Achilles is typically referred to as swift-footed), 2 while the second killed him.

In the later Roman myth, Paris shot him in the heel inside the temple of Apollo. In the Iliad, Homer connects Achilles' death with his killing of Hektor. In Homer's story, after Achilles learns that Hektor killed Patroclus and stripped him of his armor, he vows to avenge the death of his dear friend. When he tells his mother that he wants to live just long enough to slay Hektor, Thetis answers: I won't have you with me for long, my child, If you say such things. Hector's death means yours. 3 Soon after, clad in the armor Hephaestus made for him, Achilles drives his spear through Hektor's neck, mortally wounding him. Hektor's last words predict that Achilles will meet a similar fate: But the gods will not forget this, And I will have my vengeance on that day When Paris and Apollo destroy you In the long shadow of Troy's Western Gate. 4 Homer does not portray the death of Achilles in the Iliad, but the tragic poets refer to his death at Troy.

In Sophocles' Ajax, Ajax's disappointment over not receiving the armor of Achilles motivates him to seek the deaths of Agamemnon, Menelaus and Odysseus, and in the Philoctetes, Odysseus tells Neoptolemus to tell Philoctetes he is deserting because the Greeks refused to give him his father's armor. In Euripides' Hecuba, the virgin Polyxena is sacrificed at the tomb of Achilles soon before the Argives leave Troy. In the last book of the Odyssey, after Odysseus reaches Ithaca and slaughters the suitors, Hermes takes their ghosts to the land of the dead. There they encounter Achilles talking with King Agamemnon. If only you had died on Trojan soil, Achilles tells Agamemnon, you would have won great fame. The ghost of poor Agamemnon answers: Son of Peleus, great godlike Achilles! Happy man, you died on the fields of Troy, a world away from home, and the best of Trojan and Argive champions died around you, fighting for your corpse.

5 You were dear to the gods, so even in death your name will never die … Great glory is yours Achilles, for all time, in the eyes of mankind! 6 Indeed it is. 1 Apollonius, The Voyage of the Argo, 4.869-872. "[Achilles] was a baby then, and in the middle of the night [Thetis] used to surround her mortal child with fire and every day anoint his tender flesh with ambrosia, to make him immortal and save him from the horrors of old age. One night, Peleus, leaping out of bed, saw his boy gasping in the flames and gave a terrible cry. It was a foolish thing to do. Thetis heard, and snatching up the child threw him screaming on the floor. Then passing out of the house, light as a dream and insubstantial as air, she plunged into the sea. She was mortally offended and never returned." E. V. Rieu translation. 2 The ankle injury to Patriots' tight end Ron Gronkowski before Superbowl XLVI in 2012 is a contemporary example of how taking away a hero's speed can make him vulnerable.

3 Hom. Il. 18. 100. Lombardo translation. Lattimore translates the lines: "Then I must lose you soon, my child, by what you are saying, since it is decreed your death must come soon after Hektor's." 4 Homer, Iliad, 22, 397. Stanley Lombardo translation. The Western Gate is the Scaean gate. 5 Homer, Odyssey, 24, 38, Fagles translation. 6 ibid, 24, 99. Achilles - Legendary Warrior The Great Achilles Achilles is known mostly for being the great Greek warrior of the Trojan War. There is however more to tell of this great mythical figure. Achilles was born the son of King Peleus of the Myrmidons of Thessaly and the sea nymph Thetis. To make her son immortal, Thetis dipped Achilles into the River Styx as a child (Though some accounts say he was dipped in a holy fire). With this, Achilles did indeed become immortal with one exception...his heel by which his mother held him during the dipping.

ACHILLES' STORY, THE ILLIAD & THE TROJAN WAR Achilles story begins when Calchas prophesizes that in order for the Greeks to take Troy, they would need the aid of Achilles. Thetis, Achilles mother knew that if Achilles went into this battle, he would die. She then sent young Achilles to Scyros where he was hidden away and disguised as a girl. Eventually, Achilles was caught by the crafty Odysseus, who placed some armor in with the women's things and caught Achilles as he was the only one to be fascinated by the hardware. Achilles then agreed to venture off with Odysseus to Troy, leading an army of his father's people, the Myrmidons, his tutor Phoenix and his close friend Patroclus. Once at Troy, Achilles quickly showed himself to be an unbeatable warrior. Along the way, Achilles captured many towns in the Trojan territory. In the town of Lyrnessos, he took the woman Briseis as his own personal prize. In the midst of the war, Agamemnon, leader of the Greeks, was forced by an oracle of Apollo to give up Chryseis, his own prize.

He then proceeded to take Briseis from Achilles to make up for his loss. This of course began the central plot of the Illiad. After Briseis was taken, Achilles was enraged and refused to fight. From there on out, the war turned in the Trojan's favor. The Greeks pleaded and begged Achilles to return to battle, but he refused. His best friend Patroclus then asked to fight in his place, wearing his armor. Achilles agreed to this and the next day Patroclus was killed and the armor of Achilles was taken by Hector, who thought Patroclus was Achilles. Achilles then got into a fit of utter rage. I mean he was REALLY ticked off at the death of his best friend. Thetis then got Achilles new armor made by Hephaestus, and he returned to the war and slayed Hector. Achilles the proceeded to drag the body behind his chariot in front of Troy and refused to allow Hector's body to be properly buried. When King Priam secretly entered into the Greek camp to plead for the body, Achilles gave in and allowed him to take the body.

This is one of the more intriguing parts of the Illiad as Achilles showed complete respect for Priam who for all intents and purposes was the enemy. From there, Achilles went on to defeat many foes and fight heroically until finally Paris, with help from Apollo, shot Achilles with a poison arrow in the one place where he was vulnerable...his heel. This of course is where we get the expression "Achilles Heel" basically meaning your weakness. No matter how great you may be, you'll always have a weakness, your Achilles Heel. Where would you like to go next? Achilles & Patroclus A black cloud of grief swallowed up Achilles. With both hands he scooped up soot and dust and poured it on his head, covering his handsome face with dirt, covering his sweet-smelling tunic with black ash. 30 He lay sprawlingï¿½his mighty warrior's massive body fell down and stretched out in the dust. With his own hands, he tugged at his own hair, disfiguring himself. The women slaves acquired as battle trophies by Achilles and Patroclus, hearts overwhelmed with anguish, began to scream aloud. They rushed outside and beat their breasts around warlike Achilles.

[30] Then all the women's legs gave way, and they collapsed. Across from them, Antilochus lamented, eyes full of tears, as he held Achilles by the hand. 40 Achilles' noble heart moaned aloud. Antilochus feared he might hurt himself or slit his throat with his own sword. Achilles gave a huge cry of grief. His noble mother heard it from the ocean depths where she was sitting by her ancient father. She began to wail. Then around her gathered all the divine daughters of Nereus deep in the seaï¿½ Glauce, Thaleia, Cymodoce, Nesaea, Speio, Thoe, ox-eyed Haliï¿½, Cymothoï¿½, [40] Actaia, Limnoreia, Melite, Iaera, 50 Amphithoe, Agave, Doto, Proto, Callianassa. Also there were Clymene, Ianeira, Ianassa, Maera, Orithyia, Amatheia with her lovely hair, and others, Nereus' daughters living in the ocean depths. They filled the glistening cave, beating their breasts.

[50] Thetis led them all in their laments: "Sister Nereids, listen, 60 so all of you, hearing what I say, will understand my heart's enormous sorrow. Alas, for my unhappy misery, that to my grief I bore the best of men. For when I gave birth to a fine strong boy to be an excellent heroic warrior, when he'd grown as tall as some young sapling, for I'd raised him like a lovely orchard tree, I sent him out in the beaked ships to Ilion, to war against the Trojans. But now, 70 I'll never welcome him back home again, [60] returning to the house of Peleus. While he's alive and sees the sunlight, he lives in sorrow. When I go to him, I can provide no help. But I shall go to look on my dear child, to hear what grief has overtaken him while he remains detached from all the fighting." With these words, Thetis left the cave. Her sisters went with her in tears. Around them sea waves parted, until they came 80 to fertile Troy.

They emerged, climbing up on shore, one after another, right where the Myrmidons had dragged their ships up in close-packed formation near swift Achilles. Then his noble mother moved [70] beside him, as he was groaning bitterly. With a sharp cry, she cradled her son's head, then spoke. As she grieved, she addressed him with these winged words: "My child, why are you crying? What sorrow now has come into your heart? Speak out. Hide nothing. Zeus has given you what you begged him to 90 when you stretched your hands out to himï¿½ all Achaea's sons by their ships' sterns are hemmed in there, desperate for your help and suffering a terrible ordeal." With a heavy groan, swift-footed Achilles then answered Thetis: "Yes, Mother, Olympian Zeus has indeed accomplished what I asked. But what pleasure's there for me, [80] when Patroclus, my beloved companion, has been destroyed, the man I honoured as my equal, above all my comrades.

100 I've lost him and the armour, which Hector took, once he'd killed him, that massive armour, so wonderful to look at, which the gods gave as a priceless gift to Peleus on that day they placed you in the bed of a mortal man. If only you had stayed among the eternal maidens of the sea, and Peleus had married a mortal wife. But now there'll be innumerable sorrows waiting for your heart, once your child is killed. 110 You won't be welcoming him back home again. [90] My own heart has no desire to live on, to continue living among men, unless Hector is hit by my spear first, losing his life and paying me compensation for killing Menoetius' son, Patroclus." Through her tears, Thetis then answered Achilles: "My son, from what you've just been saying, you're fated to an early death, for your doom comes quickly as soon as Hector dies." 120 Swift-footed Achilles answered her with passion: "Then let me die, since I could not prevent the death of my companion. He's fallen far from his homeland.

He needed me there [100] to protect him from destruction. So now, since I'm not returning to my own dear land, and for Patroclus was no saving light or for my many other comrades, all those killed by godlike Hector while I sat here by the ships, a useless burden 130 on the earthï¿½and I'm unmatched in warfare by any other Achaean armed in bronze, although in council other men are betterï¿½ so let wars disappear from gods and men and passionate anger, too, which incites even the prudent man to that sweet rage, sweeter than trickling honey in men's throats, which builds up like smoke inside their chests, [110] as Agamemnon, king of men, just now, made me enraged. But we'll let that pass. 140 For all the pain I feel, I'll suppress the heart within my chest, as I must. So now I'll go to meet Hector, killer of the man I loved. As for my own fate, let it come to me when Zeus and the other deathless gods determine.

For not even strong Hercules, the man Lord Zeus, son of Cronos, loved the most, escaped his death. He was destroyed by Fate and by malicious Hera's anger, too. And so for me. If a like fate has been set, 150 [120] then once I'm dead, I'll just lie there. But for now, let me seize great gloryï¿½let me make so many Trojan and Dardan matrons weep, and with both hands wipe tears from their soft cheeks, and set them on to constant lamentation, so that they'll know I've long refrained from war. Don't keep me from battle. Though you love me, you'll not convince me." "My child, what you say is trueï¿½ it's no bad thing to protect companions 160 when they're in trouble from complete disaster. But now the Trojans have your lovely armour, [130] all your glittering bronze. It's on the shoulders of Hector with the shining helmetï¿½ he boasts about it. But I don't think his triumph will last long, since his death is coming closer.

But you must not rejoin Ares' conflict until with your own eyes you see me in the morning here again. I'll return at sunrise, and I'll bring you 170 beautiful armour made by lord Hephaestus." 2. Plato's Symposium (c. 360 AD) "Very different was the reward of the true love of Achilles towards his lover Patroclus-his lover and not his love (the notion that Patroclus was the beloved one is a foolish error into which Aeschylus has fallen, for Achilles was surely the fairer of the two, fairer also than all the other heroes; and, as Homer informs us, he was still beardless, and younger far). And greatly as the gods honour the virtue of love, still the return of love on the part of the beloved to the lover is more admired and valued and rewarded by them, for the lover is more divine; because he is inspired by God. Now Achilles was quite aware, for he had been told by his mother, that he might avoid death and return home, and live to a good old age, if he abstained from slaying Hector.

Nevertheless he gave his life to revenge his friend, and dared to die, not only in his defence, but after he was dead Wherefore the gods honoured him even above Alcestis, and sent him to the Islands of the Blest. These are my reasons for affirming that Love is the eldest and noblest and mightiest of the gods; and the chiefest author and giver of virtue in life, and of happiness after death." 3. Famous Greek Vase Painting of Achilles and Patroclus Armor in the Iliad- Philosophy Paradise Armor in the Iliad Expression is how one chooses to unveil oneself in the eyes of the public; consequently, expression comes into play in almost everything one does. Expression not only comes out through actions, but also through choices and decisions as well; consequently, the choice of apparel is a form of expression, and the clothes themselves in a way reveal a certain aspect of ourselves, and give us a sense of an additional identity clashing with our own to form one entity which is what others perceive us as. In order for this entity to live peacefully or live at all, in the case of Patroclus from The Iliad, our apparel must be our own, made through our own decisions and choices.

If our apparel is the result of choices from another, it will betray us because the will of half of the resultant entity will be clashing against our own will, or in the case of Achilles and Hector, it will betray us by giving our opponent the upper hand due to Achilles being at full acquaintance with the armor. In order to ensure a comfortable fit with our apparel, we must craft it ourselves through our everyday choices and actions so that it may express a reflection of ourselves. In Homers The Iliad, armor portrays vigor, fighting spirit, and part of the identity of a person; consequently, by stripping it off the corpse of a fallen soldier that we have killed, we seize permanent proof of our victory in combat. But if we wear the armor of someone else’s decisions and choices, we doom ourselves to a constant fight over our identity vs. the identity and aura of the armor. Armor is the indestructible identity that will mix with our own mortal identity to form one identity; armor is therefore the permanent proof of victory in combat. This intermingling of identities is shown right after Achilles receives the armor forged by Hephastos, god of fire.

At first sight, the aura of the armor scared “all the Myrmidon ranks – none dared to look straight at the glare, each fighter shrank away. Not Achilles. The more he gazed, the deeper his anger went, his eyes flashing under his eyelids, fierce as fire” (page 489) None of the Myrmidons could look at the armor because it is not their identity, the armor’s aura itself is challenging the Myrmidons, and none of them have a strong enough identity, or enough glory, to even look at the armor. But since the god of fire has crafted the armor for Achilles, the armor’s identity is an even stronger version of Achilles’ own identity, and as Achilles stared it down, the two identities intermixed resulting in an angrier Achilles with eyes as fierce as fire. Because the god of fire made the armor, the identity of the armor reflects fiery passion; consequently, Achilles eyes turn as fierce as fire. Other then the fact that the identity reflected in armor can be different from the identity of the bearer of the armor, there is another significant difference. While the armor is indestructible, the person inside is definitely not invulnerable.

After Hector spears Patroclus, the Euphorbus insists that the Acheans should “Back [away] from the corpse, and leave the bloody gear! I was the first Trojan, first of the famous allies to spear Patroclus down in the last rough charge. So let me seize my glory among the Trojans now.” (page 444) Euphorbus is trying to claim the armor of Achilles and justifies his possession of the armor by saying that he was the first to spear Patroclus, and that the glory should clearly belong to him alone. When the armor and Patroclus diverge in direction, Patroclus goes on to be buried on a funeral pyre while the armor switches hands to Hector proving that the mortal body is erased from physical existence while the armor is nearly indestructible.

Prior to all of this, Hector with his own set of armor returning to Troy to visit his lovely wife and son tries to reach for his son, “But the boy recoiled, cringing against his nurse’s full breast, screaming out at the sight of his own father, terrified by the flashing bronze, the horsehair crest, the great ridge of the helmet nodding, bristling terror – so it struck his eyes. And his loving father laughed… and glorious Hector, quickly lifting the helmet from his head, set it down no the ground, fiery in the sunlight, and raising his son he kissed him.” (page 211) Hector’s mortal identity is a loving family man, but to an innocent young baby, his fathers loving intent is masked by the frightening identity of the armor, which the baby instantly recoils to upon contact. Yet as soon as Hector takes off his mask of war, the baby instantly recognizes the identity of his father proving that what people perceive us as the result of our apparel and our own identity and not just our own mortal identity.

Armor is not only significant because it has its own identity, it is also the proof of glory, because while personal glory will someday be forgotten, the trophy armor can never be forgotten, and the glory one has obtained will never die and will live on long past the lifespan of the person because the trophy armor is nearly indestructable. In a war of such short lifetimes such permanent signs of glory were necessary, and it is strange when we see an exchange of armors, an exchange of indestructible signs of glory between two men who part as friends. It was Diomedes who proposed the trade, “Look, plenty of Trojans there for me to kill… and plenty of Argives too—kill them if you can. But let’s trade armor. The men must know our claim: we are sworn friends from our fathers’ days till now!” The exchange of armor symbolically is an exchange of character, in complete contrast to the brutality of the war. Homer introduces some aspects of civility and kindness that are the direct result of the exchange of two armors not based on durability, but rather on the pacts of friendship between the bearers’ grandfathers. The exchange of identity is renewing these pacts and honoring ancestral roots.

All in all, armor is the indestructible part of all of us, it is symbolic of the glory we have achieved, the victories we have won, and is clearly a form of expression. Armor clearly has an aura all of its own, and an identity that may be very different from the person the armor is protecting, so when a mortal identity comes into clash with an armor that the bearer has no right to wear, instead of a peaceful entity formed by the intermixing of two identities, a constant battle erupts between a mortal identity and the indestructible identity as well as the aura of the armor. This ideology is true in the case of Patroclus. Patroclus asks to wear the armor of Achilles, and in asking for this, he is asking for his doom. Although Achilles lends Patroclus his armor, Achilles warns him, “You must turn back—soon as you bring the light of victory to the ships.” (page 415) Patroclus is by no means an unreasonable man, and at first he intends on following the words of Achilles, yet as the armors identity, that of Achilles, mixes with his very own identity he now plans on doing exactly as Achilles would have done in such a situation.

How could he come back when the will of such a strong armor was tempting him to massacre all the Trojans and sack Troy. The will of the armor prevailed over Patroclus’ original intentions on turning back. So even though Patroclus was by all means a reasonable and logical man, his logic was overrun by the armor. In such a situation Achilles would probably prevail, but Patroclus being no Achilles, lost his life due to the will of his armor that he could not overcome. Just as Patroclus is betrayed by a borrowed armor, Hector is betrayed by an armor unjustly seized by him. Achilles knows that “the rest of [Hector’s] flesh seemed all encased in armor, burnished, brazen –Achilles’ armor that Hector stripped from strong Patroclus when he killed him –true, but one spot lay exposed…there as Hector charged in fury brilliant Achilles drove his spear.” (page 552) Hector had been betrayed by the will of the armor, as the armor is still true to its previous beholder. The armor reveals to Achilles its weak spot and Achilles instantly takes advantage of this knowledge and quickly brings a close to the battle.

Hector thinks he is safe from Achilles in such a protective armor, and yes the armor is indestructible, but Hector remains mortal. Hector was betrayed by the will of his armor, for his armor revealed to Achilles a weak point he could not have possibly of known if he was not the true owner of the armor. Because armor is indestructible it tends to cause an unjustified sense of safety to the bearer. Achilles feels so secure in his god fashioned armor that he even challenges the god of the river. When he realizes that no armor offers true protection, he shouts “Father Zeus! To think in all my misery not one god can bring himself to rescue me from this river! Then I’d face any fate. And no god on high, none is to blame so much as my dear mother –how she lied, she beguiled me, she promised me I’d die beneath the walls of the armored Trojans, cut down in blood by Apollo’s whipping arrows!” Achilles once so confident in his abilities and his own physical safety could not be protected from the god of the river by his armor, and the only reason he engages the river in the first place is because he is absolutely sure of his swift victory.

Achilles is betrayed by his armor because it gave him a false sense of security. This false security is similar to the over confidence that Hector displays in the battle of Hector vs. Achilles. Another instance of a false sense of safety is depicted in the battle of Menelaus and Paris. Menelaus adapted new tactics at defeating Paris after his sword shattered, he “grabbed his horsehair crest, swung him round, started to drag him into Argive lines and now the braided chin-strap holding his helmet tight was gouging his soft throat—Paris was choking, strangling. Now he’d have hauled him off and won undying glory.”(page 140) Paris was parading near the Trojan lines acting as if he could challenge any Achean in one to one combat, yet as soon as he would see some great hero, he would instantly shrink away in fear. With this identity as the result of his true mortal identity plus that of his armor, it is only right to assume that his armor is primarily for show, with no great protective aspect in mind.

It is only fitting that Paris is betrayed by his armor and that it is his armor that chokes him and restrains him from picking up a sword and slashing Menelaus. Whenever armor is in constant clash with a mortal identity, the armor in a sense betrays the bearer. Expression is a second identity that can be shown through material objects such as armor where one chooses and decides which armor is necessary. For Paris, he chose an inefficient but beautiful armor, for Achilles, his armor reflected his own inner rage, his own fiery passion. Expression should be the result of decisions we alone make, and if we suddenly wear the apparel of another, our identities will clash in an ongoing battle over whom we really are. In order to lead a successful life, we must choose our own clothes, our own armor so to speak. We must fashion our armor through choices that we alone have control over, and that no one else can change. We must live life as individuals, and we must have full control over our armor and fashion it in such a way that it will best benefit us.

National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC You Gotta Know These Trojan War Heroes Greeks Agamemnon The king of Mycenae, Agamemnon shares supreme command of the Greek troops with his brother, Menelaus. An epithet of his, "king of heroes," reflects this status. As a commander, however, he often lacks good public relations skills, as shown by his feud with Achilles (book 1) and by his ill-considered strategy of suggesting that all the troops go home (book 2). Upon his return home, Agamemnon is murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. Menelaus The king of Sparta, Menelaus is the husband of Helen, the cause celebre of the war. He tries to win Helen back by fighting Paris in single combat but Aphrodite carried Paris off when it seems that Menelaus will win. Despite his notionally equal say in commanding the troops with his brother Agamemnon, in practice Agamemnon often dominates. Achilles This "swift-footed" warrior is the greatest on the Greek side.

His father is Peleus, a great warrior in his own right, and his mother is Thetis, a sea nymph. The consequences of Achilles' rage at Agamemnon for confiscating his geras (prize of honor) are the subject of the Iliad. Achilles kills Hector, but is killed by a poisoned arrow in the heel, the only vulnerable place on his body. Patroclus Achilles' foster brother and closest friend. Although Patroclus is a formidable hero, he is valued for his kind and gentle nature. Patroclus is killed by Hector while wearing the armor of Achilles. Ajax This prince of Salamis is the son of Telamon. He once fights all afternoon in single combat with Hector; since neither one can decisively wound the other, they part as friends. Ajax's most glorious achievement is fighting the Trojans back from the ships almost singlehandedly. He commits suicide after the armor of Achilles is awarded to Odysseus rather than to himself. Diomedes In his day of glory, Diomedes kills Pandarus and wounds Aeneas before taking on the gods.

He stabs Aphrodite in the wrist and, with Athena as his charioteer, wounds Ares in the stomach. Along with Odysseus, he also conducts a successful night raid against King Rhesus. Odysseus This son of Laertes is known for his cleverness and glib tongue. His accomplishments include a successful night raid against King Rhesus, winning the armor of Achilles, and engineering the famous Trojan Horse. His ten-year trip home to Ithaca (where his wife, Penelope, awaits) is the subject of the Odyssey. Nestor, king of Pylos, is too old to participate in the fighting of the Trojan War, but serves as an advisor. He tells tales of "the good old days" to the other heroes. Trojans Hector The son of Priam and Hecuba, he is probably the noblest character on either side. A favorite of Apollo, this captain of the Trojan forces exchanges gifts with Ajax after neither can conquer the other in single combat. He kills Patroclus when that Greek goes into battle wearing the armor of his friend, Achilles.

Killed by Achilles to avenge the death of Patroclus, he is greatly mourned by all of Troy. Funeral games take place in his honor. Paris (sometimes called Alexander) Also the son of Priam and Hecuba, he is destined to be the ruin of his country. He fulfills this destiny by accepting a bribe when asked to judge which of three goddesses is the fairest. When he awards Aphrodite the golden apple, Aphrodite repays him by granting him the most beautiful woman in the world; unfortunately, Helen is already married to Menelaus. Known less for hand-to-hand fighting than for mastery of his bow, he kills Achilles with an arrow but dies by the poisoned arrows of Philoctetes. Priam The king of Troy and son of Laomedon, he has 50 sons and 12 daughters with his wife Hecuba (presumably she does not bear them all), plus at least 42 more children with various concubines. Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, kills him in front of his wife and daughters during the siege of Troy.

Hecuba (or Hecabe) The wife of Priam, she suffers the loss of most of her children but survives the fall of Troy. She is later turned into a dog. Andromache The wife of Hector and mother of Astyanax, she futilely warns Hector about the war, then sees both her husband and son killed by the Greeks. After the war she is made concubine to Neoptolemus and later marries the Trojan prophet Helenus. Cassandra This daughter of Priam and Hecuba has an affair with the god Apollo, who grants her the gift of prophecy. Unable to revoke the gift after they quarrel, Apollo curses her by preventing anyone from believing her predictions. Among her warnings is that the Trojan horse contains Greeks. After Troy falls she is given to Agamemnon, who tactlessly brings her home to his wife Clytemnestra. Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus then kill Agamemnon and Cassandra, leaving Agamemnon's son Orestes (egged on by sister Electra) to avenge the deaths and kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.

Laocoon Yet another son of Priam and Hecuba, this priest of Apollo shares Cassandra's doubt about the merits of bringing the Trojan horse into the city. "Timeo danaos et dona ferentes," he says (according to Vergil), "I fear the Greeks, even bearing gifts." Later, while sacrificing a bull, two serpents from the sea crush both him and his two young sons. The death of Laocoon is often blamed on Athena (into whose temple the serpent disappeared) but more likely the act of Poseidon, a fierce Greek partisan. Aeneas This son of Aphrodite and Anchises often takes a beating but always gets up to rejoin the battle. Knocked unconscious by a large rock thrown by Diomedes, he is evacuated by Aphrodite and Apollo. He succeeds the late Hector as Trojan troop commander and survives the fall of Troy, ultimately settling in Italy. His son Iulus founds Alba Longa, near the site of Rome. That bloodline is the basis of Julius Caesar's claim to have descended from Venus. This article was synthesized from contributions by Christina Skelton and Candace Benefiel.

Question: Who was wearing the Armour of Achilles when he was killed by Hector at the Siege of Troy?
Answer: Patroclus